The Best Things to do in Sidemen – Amazing Authentic Bali

Sidemen is the best place to stay in Bali if you’re looking for an authentic Balinese experience filled with stunning rice terraces, incredible views of the Mount Agung volcano, and friendly caring locals.

In this travel guide, we will tell you all you need to know about Sidemen and share the best things to do in this amazing little village in Bali.

We’ve been to Bali twice. And both times we honestly found the island too overrun by tourists that don’t respect or care for the Balinese values. One the other side, it’s also common to fall in a tourist trap, get mixed up in the taxi mafia scheme, and get yelled at walking down the street. It’s safe to say that what Instagram shows you about Bali isn’t always true.

But Sidemen is different.

In Sidemen, you get to see the real authentic side of Bali, and we can’t wait to show you all the great things to do there in this travel guide!

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Practical things to know about Sidemen in Bali

Before diving in to all the great things to do in Sidemen, we first wanted to share some general information about visiting the village.

So if you’re planning a trip to Bali, and you need a bit of practical information about Sidemen, then this section is for you.

What Sidemen is known for in Bali

Sidemen is located in the Karangasem province, which is on the East side of Bali.

The village is not far from Padang Bai, which makes Sidemen the perfect place to stay in Bali before you move on to the Gili islands for some beach life and turtle-snorkeling.

Sidemen is a village that mostly depends on traditional weaving and rice farming, which makes it a great place to experience the beautiful view of a rice terrace valley in Bali. The locals in the area most often work in the rice fields or work with weaving thread into beautiful sarongs.

However, you’ll also find a few restaurants, hotels, and tour operators, which are dependent on us to visit. So tourism is also a small part of the economy in Sidemen.

Why you should visit Sidemen

When you search “Bali” on Google, you often see pictures of temples, rice terraces and beaches. The sad truth is that a lot of these pictures aren’t showing the reality of Bali. We find the biggest cities on the island are overrun by tourists and pushy local people who always try to sell you something.

However, there is a reason why Sidemen is called a “village” because it’s a small town that houses way more locals than tourists.

So, if you want a real authentic Balinese experience, you should definitely go here!

The locals in Sidemen actually smiles at you and engage in conversation, even if they cannot communicate with you in English. How amazing is that? You feel very welcome in this part of Bali, and you don’t feel like a walking wallet compared to other places such as Kuta, Canggu, and Ubud.

On top of that, there are many great things to see and do in Sidemen, which we’ll get to in a minute.

But for us, the best thing about Sidemen is definitely the incredible scenery you get here. Not only do you see the many layers of rice terraces stretch over the hills, you also have a straight view to Bali’s biggest volcano, Mount Agung. The scenery is honestly so stunning!

It’s safe to say that there are many reasons why you should visit Sidemen on your trip to Bali.

How to get to Sidemen

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any public transportation to Sidemen, so you’ll have to rely on a taxi or hiring a private driver while in Bali.

Sidemen is only about 50 kilometers away from Denpasar Airport. However, expect the trip from the airport to Sidemen to take at least 2 hours – especially if you drive during the day. Bali has many traffic jams, and that’s just the way it is.

We actually went from Canggu to Sidemen for the steep price of 450.000 IDR (price may have gone a bit up today). Taxis in Canggu, Kuta and Ubud are run by a “mafia”, so basically you are not allowed to take any Ubers etc. and you always have to haggle with the taxi-men.

Where to stay in Sidemen

We encourage you to stay in Sidemen for a couple of nights if you really want to explore all the things to do in the village and have time to just enjoy the peace and quiet. We stayed in Sidemen for 3 nights in a place named Amrita Villa.

We had a little apartment to ourselves with the most incredible view of Mount Agung. It was really like waking up to a painting! The apartment was set on top of Café Amrita, which served delicious coffee, interesting tea from plants native to Southeast Asia, and some fresh cakes.

Apart from the lovely apartment, and Café underneath, this accommodation had a pool, it was close to several restaurants, breakfast was included, motorbike rental was possible, and the staff was genuinely some of the friendliest people we’ve ever met.

We also shared fresh fish, local palm wine, and a drunk karaoke night with the friendly men, who ran the accommodation. We can definitely recommend Amrita Villa.

If this doesn’t sound like your thing, then no need to worry, there are several other hotels to choose from on Booking.com.

Now that you’re all caught up with practical information, it’s time to dive into all the best things to do in Sidemen.

The 6 Best Things to do in Sidemen, Bali

1. Hike in Sidemen’s rice terrace valley

One of the absolute best things to do on your visit to Sidemen, and a popular thing to do in Bali, is to go hiking through the rice terrace valley.

One morning in Sidemen, we got up really early to go on a guided tour around the valley. Nyoman, who is born in Sidemen and also managed the place we stayed at, took us on a hike around the area.

It was such an interesting tour where we learned a lot about the vegetation in the area and the local ways of living – all the while walking in between the rice terraces in Sidemen Valley.

It was actually very adventurous! We learned about so many plants on the way such as coconuts, peanuts, cocoa, snake fruit, and more. We even got to taste some of them.

We also learned a lot about the process of making rice and realized that there is a fine art to growing rice, which honestly seems like a lot of work. So appreciate every bite of your rice.

This tour was definitely one of the highlights from our whole trip to Bali! However, the weather got really hot and our tour went late, so remember to get some snacks, extra water, and a hat to protect yourself from the sun if you want to do a tour in the rice fields.

You can ask for the tour at Amrita Café in Sidemen. We payed 250.000 IDR (expect the price to have gone a bit up by now), and it took half a day.

2. Visit a traditional weaver

Another great thing to do in Sidemen is to visit a traditional weaver.

Weaving is often an art that is passed on from generation to generation within the female side of the family. So if you’re a woman and your mother is a weaver, then there is a great chance that you will become a weaver yourself.

We visited a traditional weaver on our guided tour around Sidemen, but you can also go by yourself.

We learned that it takes a full month of work to weave enough meters to create just one sarong. Isn’t that just mind blowing?! And the sarongs are sold for at least 2.200.000 IDR.

Ask your accommodation for recommendations if you want to visit a weaver. There is often a shop next door to the weaving room where you can buy some of these beautiful handmade sarongs if you like.

3. Make your own jewelry at Agung Silver

One of the things that we never got to do (but really wanted to do) was to make our own jewelry at Agung Silver in Sidemen. However, the little jewelry store was ALWAYS busy, so we never had the chance.

Apparently, Lost LeBlanc (a famous travel vlogger on YouTube) made a vlog from the shop where he and his former girlfriend crafted their own rings. You can watch his travel vlog here: We Made our rings! BALI VLOG.

We don’t know the opening hours of Agung Silver, but the silver workshop lasts 3 hours and costs 450.000 IDR, and that’s with 5 grams of Indonesian silver included.

During our stay in Sidemen, we met another couple who had attended the silver workshop, and they spoke very highly about it. So, if you want to do something a little bit different and make your own souvenir from Bali, then go check out Agung Silver on Instagram.

You can also book a jewelry making class in Ubud for just $30 in case you’re already in that city.

4. Do a Balinese Cooking Class in Sidemen

Apart from doing a village tour and making your own silver, you can also do a Balinese cooking class in Sidemen.

Now, we never tried this cooking class, but it honestly has great reviews and looks like fun. So we thought to mention it in case that’s just something for you.

In this cooking class, you’ll make 5 Balinese dishes, the class is taking place in the woods, which basically means you cook outside, and you’ll learn a lot about the Balinese culture while you’re cooking. So give it a go if you’re a foodie and you want to dive into Balinese food culture.

5. Rent a motorbike and explore East Bali

Our favorite thing to do in Sidemen (and Bali) is to just rent a motorbike and just go explore!

On our first full day in Sidemen, we rented a motorbike from our accommodation because we wanted to see what the best place in Bali had to offer.

We found that there are many waterfalls and temples in the area, and best of all, you drive through many local Balinese villages and see beautiful landscapes full of green rice fields on the way!

Just beware that if you want to drive to Lempuyang temple, then you need one motorbike per person. The road is very steep and curvy, so we eventually had to turn around because our motorbike constantly broke down on the mountain. Read this unfortunate story in our blog post: 10 Funny Travel Short Stories.

You often hear stories from Bali about tourists who get stopped by corrupt police on their motorbike and have to pay a fine. However, this didn’t happen to us once, and that’s maybe because the area of Sidemen and Karangasem isn’t touristic at all.

Riding a motorbike shouldn’t be a problem in this part of Bali. Just take care of yourself and the other people on the road. We rented a motorbike for around 30.000 IDR per day from our accommodation in Sidemen.

6. Enjoy the serenity and cool down in a pool

When you’re visiting Sidemen, make sure to do one of the greatest things there: Nothing.

Sidemen village and valley is a place of serenity and tranquility.

You haven’t fully enjoyed Sidemen if you haven’t just had a day to relax your mind. You can easily spent a long time just taking in the view of beautiful Mount Agung while enjoying a drink. Sidemen is also the perfect place to really dive into a new book – and actually finish it!

There are several hotels around Sidemen that has a pool. You can often use them in exchange for you buying a drink or a meal.

Swimming in a pool is not mandatory on your visit to Sidemen, but it’s definitely a nice way to cool down from the humid and hot weather in Bali. Plus, most of the pools have incredible views of Mount Agung!

So make sure to take your time to do a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y nothing on your trip to Sidemen in Bali – I know this sounds weird, but it’s really good for the mind.

The future of Sidemen in Bali – how to support in 2023

We saw a few new buildings under construction, but it really doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a big tourist destination anytime soon. At least that’s our hope.

We believe that Kuta, Canggu and Ubud will still host the majority of the tourists on Bali. Sidemen is a bit further away and it’s less convenient to get to, which is good because it means less people.

However, we still want to advocate for this place to become more noticed by tourists because there are a few restaurants and tour guides who depend on tourism. Every night we literally ate in an empty restaurant, which was a bit of a sad scene.

So please, if you want to experience the authentic Bali, then Sidemen is the best place to stay! It’s beautiful, serene and friendly. If we ever return to Bali, we’ll definitely return straight to Sidemen.

We say, put your money at the local experiences in Bali, rather than the big touristic experiences.

What you can do as a traveler is to stay in Sidemen and support the locals. Don’t rent a private villa with a private chef. Instead, go out and explore the village, support the little shops, and eat at the local restaurants in Sidemen. You’ll love it!

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We apologize if we sometimes sound negative towards Bali. But we’ve had some bad experiences here, and it’s not our favorite travel destination.

That being said, we do believe that places like Sidemen can still be found, and those places will be the reason for our future return to Bali.

We hope that you enjoyed this blog post about the best things to do in Sidemen, Bali. Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you have any questions or observations that you want to add.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

Check out this blog post: interesting facts about Bali.